Recycling run with the kids www.flickr.com/photos/25503503@N08/

In response to a Q I'm posting some general pictures of the lighting/dynamo setup on my trailer.

The above pictures
1. The dynamo mounted on chassis. Dynamo height and 12inch wheel fit together nicely.
2. The headlight. 1W LED +built-in current regulator, housed in a film canister on a simple swivelling mount. Requires 5v. Has a lens, which as the ebay advert described 'makes the bean throw long.'
3. One of he rear lights. 4 columns of 10mm (large) red LED pairs. Takes 10.4v if I remember correctly. Shockingly bright. Comes on at about 4mph, max brightness at 8mph. Voltage is regulated so no chance of burning out. Dynamo in background.
4. On the underside of the chassis, the dynamo feeds a voltage rectifier/smoother (on the right) and a ~10.4v voltage regulator (on the left).
5. The 10.4 v either drives the rear lights directly or can also be fed into the black box with the red display. This box provides regulated 5v output (for ipod charging via USB jack), can also take in a general voltage source (like the solar panel). Also provides the 5v needed for the headlight. The display is a voltage meter, telling you the input voltage or any voltage you desire (e.g. the voltage of rechargeable batteries that you're charging via the dynamo). I made it sound complicated, it isn't.
6. The innards of the voltage meter/regulator/distributor, reveals that I'm not actually an electronics wizard. The voltage meter was bought on ebay, I just added switches etc. It runs off its own battery, so can be used even when there's no sun, and you aren't cycling.

There's also a 6v dynamo on the other wheel. Why? Who knows?

Today's recycle of deposit bottles/cans, without kids. $8.95 worth.

Deposit bottles?
Y'all do that up North?

I haven't seen a 5¢ return stamp on a Coke bottle in thirty years.

5¢ for beer, wine and liqueur bottles and cans too!
I shoulda made like Kramer from Seinfield and biked to Michigan where I could get a dime for each one of 'em.

I just completed my first trailer using the Wike DIY kit with an extra set of connectors and upgraded wheels. I built this specifically to do the weekly recycling/trash drop off run, and so far, so good. Didn't have much weight on it for the first trip, but it handled great.

Here is what dey look like!

Nice bike, er beer!

Here's another; note the deposit info on left of label.

Deposit into stein first.

True, but up in the "North" we don't need that info on the label. :)

Her is my trailer built with stuff I had laying around (I bought 2 U-bolts and a package of Eye screws) 3/4 conduit for the tongue, 3/4 plywood flatbed, lawnmower wheels. the axles and tongue are just bolted to the plywood
Roy

You have enough room on the tongue for another 6 panniers. A very elegant line. Does the axle run from one wheel all the way to the other? I occasionally see those wheels on trailers and wonder if they're particularly light or strong, or perhaps they're just cheaper than bicycle wheels?

It has a 1/2" rod from the scap box at work for an axle I used those wheels because they were laying in the garage they are lawnmower wheels no bearings I would use something different if I planned on pulling it on the open road. I built it for running to the store in town I may shorten the tongue when I get my german three speed back together and see how short I can get by with I hauled around #80 four blocks with it with no problem I spent about $8 on parts for it 2 u-bolts ,1 eye-bolt, 10 eye screws everything else I had or scrounged
Roy

I go through "Great Plains" (division of Nothern Tool) for the wheels I use on my trailers. 5-spoked poly-wheel tire and tube, Kenda, rated at 180 lbs. per wheel. 1/2" ID sealed bearings. Good stuff.

another trailer, nearly finished.
 

Hello all,

My first post to this forum but I've been reading for a while.

Am at the moment finishing building my trailer, the design of which is loosely based on the Y-frame from CarryFreedom. The hitch took the most thinking and effort building, but I think it came out pretty nice. The heim joint (rose joint) seems to be invented just for this kind of job.

Attachment 73476 Attachment 73477

Only thing left to do is install the load bed and add a reflector.

More pictures of the trailer during construction can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/motorcon...BicycleTrailer

Something else that isn't trailer related but might still interest the odd person is an electricity-generating hometrainer I built about two years ago; construction details can be found here, for anyone interested:

http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/dinges

Peter.

Here is my "new" build. Just a basic trailer.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...06100001-1.jpg

Do you have perchance a website/forum with more detailed descriptions of your work?

Are you talking about the trailer or about the hometrainer generator ? I do not have a personal website, but many of my old projects (mostly renewable energy-oriented) have been described in a forum I used to frequent:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/12/10/163646/91 (for the hometrainer)

And for the other RE projects there are some write-ups here:

http://www.fieldlines.com/user/dinges/diary
http://www.fieldlines.com/user/dinges/stories

If you are asking about the trailer, I'm not sure I have much information (apart from the load calculations and plans with dimensions) that's not yet shown in the image gallery of it.

If you have any specific questions about the trailer or other projects, don't hesitate to ask.

Peter.

I hadn't realized, but of course lawnmowers would be a readily available source of good wheels.

I want to ask about the wheels. with this system I expected one wheel would unscrew itsself when in use. I would expect that wheel to maybe stay in place if you put two nuts and locked them together thight. How do you make it work, did you use it enough to find out?

I did something similar, but I am lucky an found some wheelchairs so I could build the hub from those wheels and built them into 20" wheels.

That's one worry I initially had too. I haven't used the trailer yet but I don't expect it'll be much of an issue as it takes quite some effort to screw the axle in the nut. I'm making the loadbed not too wide, so it's easy to regularly inspect whether one wheel does turn itself loose. If it should prove to come undone I'll lock them with a bit of Loctite 638.

Funny thing... I've been looking for wheelchair wheels for nearly two years now. Never found any. Last month I broke down and got some old kid's bicycle wheels from the bike shop for cheap. Then, last weekend, I came across a wheelchair... I did check it out but as the wheels were too large (26") and I already had my 20" wheels I didn't buy it. Only the next day I realized I should have bought it anyway so I could take out the quick release hubs of the wheels and install them in 20" rims.

One worry I do have with the quick release wheels is theft. If it takes just a push of a button to remove the wheels, what's stopping thieves or vandals from getting them. Even plain quick-release skewers on a bike seem to be an invitation of 'take me'. You'd have to lock both wheels to the trailer in case of a wheelchair quick-release, at least over here.

The padlock on the hitch isn't an accident either. One of the designgoals from the start was that the trailer should be lockable to the bike.

Mind you, anyone that really wants the trailer just needs a 13 mm wrench or adjustable wrench to loosen one nut of the Heim joint and he can walk away with it, unless I use a cable lock to lock the trailer to the bikeframe.

Peter.

Maybe clean (alcohol) nut and axel, stuff the nut full of epoxy and put the axel in place :D:D

WOW, I called Nashbar and complained about my Utility Trailer I bough 1 year ago, they traded me for the new improved model, and it is one fine trailer for the $$$.